Landlord Responsible for Tenant Injuries Following Rat Attack
LVT Number: #33413
Tenant sued landlord for negligence after she was injured in the building's trash room. She claimed that she fell backwards when multiple rats jumped toward her. Prior to this incident, tenant and others had complained to landlord about conditions, including rats, in the trash room. The tenant asked the court to rule in her favor without trial on the issue of landlord's liability for her injuries.
The court ruled for tenant. Landlord didn't seriously dispute that it owed tenant a duty to ensure that tenants could enter and leave the trash room without rodents scurrying about the walkway. It also was undisputed that the duty was breached by allowing the rodent condition to remain. And given the recurring complaints of rodents in the trash room, the fact that one had to climb stairs to enter and exit the trash room, and the necessity for tenants to bring trash down to the trash room, landlord couldn't dispute that it was foreseeable that someone startled by rats might be injured on the stairs leading to the trash room. Multiple Dwelling Law Section 80 required landlords of multiple dwellings to keep buildings clean at all times and that dwellings erected after 1947 be rat-proof.
Harris v. 357 W. 54th St. LLC: Index No. 160955/2022, 2024 NY Slip Op 33364(U)(Sup. Ct. NY; 9/23/24; Rosado, J)